Autumn
Autumn slidders in
back hame, auld haunts
Corries in an settles doun
It's nae stranger
kens yir faither, richt back
The leafs fa
seelent smouthe
The snaw creeps dounwart
on thon braes ahint the toun
A win' comes up
blawin strang an bauld
The leafs leave, an winter crowls in
About this poem
This poem was included in Best Scottish Poems 2023. Best Scottish Poems is an online publication, which includes 5 poems written in Scots, chosen by a different editor each year with comments by the editor and poets. It provides a personal overview of a year of Scottish poetry. The editor for poetry in Scots in 2023 was Liz Niven.
Editor’s Comments:
Ye micht think, whit else cuid be scrievit aboot autumn. Are there no a hunner an mair poems aboot aw the seasons. Howanevver, alang comes anther fine yin. The vocabulary choices are a major attractive feature o Autumn. ‘Autumn slidders’, ‘winter crowls’. Bit alongside these descriptive, juicy verbs, the poet manages tae link this universal and weil kent time o year, tae something local and hameart. It’s back hame, it’s thon braes ahint the toon –as if we aw ken which braes she’s talkin aboot. Which links jist bonnie wi the gey Scottish aspek o kennin yer faither.
Author’s Comments:
This poem was written in autumn of 2022. I wrote it in Scots, it didn’t occur to me to do otherwise, it just felt right. The poem sliddered it’s way out after these words came to mind-
kens yir faither, richt back
I was thinking on how familiar autumn is, like a family friend. How I love it, how comforting and cosy it feels as it arrives. It’s a reliable, regular visitor. Autumn would look and feel the same in my hametoun whether in 1622, 1822 or 2022. The town has changed, swollen, but the braes ahint and landscape the town coories into haven’t changed much. And then, every year, autumn gets colder, harder edged, and finally leaves again, making way for winter.
